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Sales Leader’s Job in Perspective

Guest post by: Greg van der Linde

Article Overview: Sales leaders must recognize their role within the context of the sales organization. They have to remove their personal attachment to the sales team, and approach sales from a business perspective. This creates clarity and helps them focus on their main objectives as team leaders: Increasing revenue and encouraging the growth of their sales team.

Sales Leader’s Job in Perspective

Sales is a Business

Sales leaders need to take a step back and examine their role from a distance. They need to expand their concerns beyond their sales team and consider the needs of the entire organization when coaching and making decisions. Successful, progressive sales leaders increase their perspective and move away from the traditional "my sales team" approach to managing. Sales leaders who focus on sales from a business perspective are more effective as leaders, trainers and coaches. No longer is the emphasis placed on their personal perspective. The focus is on the business and their responsibility to achieve desirable results for the sales organization.

Sales leaders who put their job in perspective are more effective when they:

• Understand Their Role Within the Organization
• Coach Sales Reps with the Correct Perspective (See Coaching - Quick Start Bundle)
• Get Input from Staff

Understand Their Role within the Organization

Sales leaders are responsible for many different tasks. They are expected to lead a sales team, plan and budget sales initiatives, build and motivate the sales team, and develop a positive sales culture. Above all else it is a sales leader's job to maximize:

• Sales revenue
• Sales staff effectiveness

It is necessary for sales leaders to approach these two tasks from a business perspective. They have to remember that while they are in charge of a specific team, it is only one portion of the entire company. Their role is to see that the sales initiatives established by upper management are accomplished.

Too many sales leaders fail to remove their ego from the equation, thereby getting caught up in the "my team" mindset and alienating themselves. This affects both sales revenue and the effectiveness of their sales staff. The focus quickly becomes about the team leader rather than the work sales reps are doing to improve their skills and their ability to generate revenue. Sales leaders must bear in mind that the sales team works for the organization, and that their role is to manage it for the company.

Coach Sales Reps with the Correct Perspective

Coaching is a vital part of any sales rep's development. Effective sales leaders know the value of effective coaching from a business perspective and openly offer it to their sales staff in order to promote skill development. However, it is ultimately up to the reps to put in the effort.

A common mistake made by sales leaders is to have a "my team" approach to coaching. Sales leaders must avoid this approach and instead focus on creating a balance between meeting the needs of their team and the needs of the organization. Organizational requirements must be met and decisions made with companywide initiatives in mind. As such, skill coaching needs to be aligned with these goals.(See Coaching - Quick Start Bundle)

Healthy competition between teams should be present within the organization. Successes and failures must be shared organization wide to spawn learning and development and to provide additional motivation for reps to achieve results. However, it should not come at the cost of excluding others in terms of strategy and efficiency practices.

Get Input from Staff

Feedback must become part of the coaching process. Sales leaders manage without dictating. With the exception of meetings to address significant performance issues, limited time is spent with reps. Coaching is about helping reps understand what they need to improve, creating an action plan, and following up on that plan. Reps need to be cognizant of their own flaws and strengths in order to improve their current skills. This process is only effective, however, when reps are open to criticism and honest with themselves about the assessment of their skills. To continually stay ahead of the curve and improve, sales leaders need to get their reps involved and work with them toward collective goals and objectives. Sales reps spend the most time executing sales campaigns and working with buyers. Therefore, they will be a valuable source of feedback. In this sense, sales reps are effective resources in terms of measuring success and adjusting sales approaches.

Positive feedback will create understanding for sales leaders about how to coach sales reps, building rep engagement and keeping the focus on business. Sales reps want attention and sales leaders who coach and engage their reps are more productive.

Bottom Line & Business Impact

A sales leader's ability to remove personal feelings and approach their position within the sales organization from a business perspective allows for greater focus on their expected contributions, making it possible to maximize potential revenue and the skills of the sales reps.

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Article Tags: business perspective, coaching, common problem faced by sales manager, decision making, job, managing, providing feedback, sales leader challenges, sales manager challenges, sales organization, sales staff effectivenessbusiness perspective, team leaders



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